May 6, 2011

Echigo Hillside Park/越後丘陵公園

On the last day (May 5) of "Golden Week", my family went to Echigo Hillside Park, located in Nagaoka city, Niigata.
ゴールデンウイークの最終日（5/5)、家族で、新潟県長岡市にある越後丘陵公園に行きました。

The "Tulip Matsuri (festival)" is held there from April 23 through May 8 this year.
今年は４月23日～５月８日まで「チューリップまつり」が開かれています。

American Dream:
アメリカンドリーム：

At Rose Cafe,
Rose Cafeで、

we each had rose soft ice cream. I had a "mix soft cream" (red rose and raw milk), while my wife and children had an "aka bara (red rose) soft cream". 300 yen.
それぞれバラソフトを食べました（私は「ミックスソフト」、妻と子供たちは「赤バラソフトクリーム」を食べました）。300円。

There are masses of liverworts in this park.
この公園には雪割草の群生地があります。

We also found a lot of zenmai (Japanese flowering fern).
ゼンマイもたくさん見つけました。

Can you spot them all?
全部見つけられますか？

My son was overjoyed to find one amigasatake (morel).
息子はアミガサタケを一つ見つけて大喜びでした。

After we left the park, we went to a family restaurant, COCO'S. We reached there at around 5:35, but it was already crowded. We had to wait for 30 minutes before being seated.
公園を出てから、ファミリーレストランCOCO'Sに行きました。5：35頃着いたのに、もう混んでいました。席に着くまで30分待ちました。

180 g 100% Australian beef. You can select from three sauces. I selected oroshi ponzu (ponzu with grated daikon), my son demi-glass sauce, and my daughter wafu (Japanese-style) steak sauce, which was garlic flavored!! To my surprise, my children said they liked the wafu steak sauce the best.
100%オーストラリア産牛肉180 g。ソースは３種類から選べます。私はおろしポン酢、息子はデミグラスソース、娘は和風ステーキソース（ガーリック味！）を選びました。驚いたことに、二人とも和風ステーキソースが一番好きだと言ってました。

The pellet cooled down before my children could finish the steak, so they asked for another pellet for free.

ペレットは子供たちがステーキを食べ終える前に冷めてしまったので、別のをタダでもらいました。

The bill came to 3,855 yen, which was not bad by Japanese standards.

The hamburg steak was not enough for me, so I had to fill my stomach with drinks (espresso, cappuccino, blend, American, and iced coffee).
私にはハンバーグステーキだけでは足りなかったので、飲み物でお腹を満たしました（エスプレッソ、カプチーノ、ブレンド、アメリカン、アイスコーヒー）。

5 comments:

Interesting trip and interesting dishes! The garlic sauce makes me think everything depends on the circumstances, on the dish, the place... I also sometimes dislike certain food products and then strangely start liking them when tasted in a new dish or situation.

Sissi: You are absolutely right! I knew my children didn't like garlic, so I asked them on the spot if they really liked garlic, and they both replied that they liked that particular wafu (Japanese-style) garlic sauce although they usually don't like garlic.

I remember when I was at the university I started hating pork (apart from sausages, hams etc.). I hadn't touched cooked, fried or roast pork for 7- 8 years and then one day I went to Paris and had lunch in a very cheap Japanese restaurant, serving mainly noodles, gyoza and rice with toppings. I looked around me and among all the dishes people were having there was one particularly appealing: noodles with calamars and some meat. I looked at the menu and saw the meat was pork. However it looked so good I decided to order it. It was delicious and since then I have been loving pork again! Japanese cuisine can almost miracles ;-)

Sissi: I guess any cuisine can do miracles, but if there is one thing that is peculiar to Japanese cuisine, it is the use of only a few seasonings like miso, soy sauce, and mirin. Use of a variety of herbs and spices sounds very foreign to the Japanese.When my son was small, I often found that miso could do miracles because whenever I put anything he hated in miso soup, he could have it with no problem.Soy sauce has played a decisive role in Japanese cuisine. That will be an interesting topic to discuss in the future.

You are so right! I have only started to learn about the use of miso (other than in soups), but as my husband says "everything tastes better with soy sauce", even very European salads, dishes... when they lack something, we add a bit of soy sauce and the taste always improves. I started using the low-salt soy sauce several years ago, otherwise our salt intake would be huge. I can say we are addicted.